Last Friday wife and I launched our TI at Chokolosky to go sailing fishing and camping, we went out on a falling tide at arround 2.30 pm on our way we desired to look for some fire wood to take with us to camp and in the proses we saw two dolphins mother and calf dangerously waddling in very shalow water next to a beach, we immeditely realized that this animals where in trouble so we called the ranger station and talked to someone that basically brushed us off like if we where making up the whole thing, any how I told wife if this animals are to live we have to pull them out our selves so we went in knee deep mud and got closed very slowly as not to scare them and started to pull them out they did not mind us touching them however they did mind being separated from each other so we pulled them both next to each other, I was exhausted the mother was 11 feet long and very heavy the calf about 4 1/2 feet finally they where safe in deeper water.On Sat while going fishing we where stunned to se the two dolphings they came back to the shallows with a falling tide where they died and later washed up on the beach by the high tide. It was all very strange, why do they suiside could they be sick or where they afraid of something maybe sharks ?Any how this totally ruined our trip needless to say wife cried for a couple of ours.Another thing on our way out I stopped at the ranger station and spoke to a ranger at the marina and I got the same same response, in my honest opinion most of these law enforcement types are simply socialy castrated.

I rescued a manatee in a similar fashion. I found the manatee stranded on a beach on a falling tide. Called law inforcement and was told they would send someone. I kept the manatee wet for a couple of hours waiting for them to show up until I ran out of time. I was on a jetski and had to be home before dark. With the help of a passing kayaker, we dug a trench and pulled the manatee to safety. While on the way home, I passed the cop who was sent to rescue the manatee almost four hours after the call. She yelled at me for being out after dark.

I don't know what those idiots thought one girl could do for a 400 pound manatee (it was a small one) but I'm glad I broke the law and assisted the manatee because it would have been several more hours before it would have been free.

I've heard of dolphins suiciding but never heard why it happens. Perhaps they would not assist the dolphin because it's not a protected species or they could be idiots...

Yes, it is certainly sad to see animals in the wild or anywhere die. However, I don't think it is the Park Service's job, particularly law enforcement, to interfere with natural events occurring within the Park's boundaries.

That is sad to hear and it would be pretty distressing for you and wife to see this after you had tried your best to help.

I am a marine scientist (coral and fish not dolphins) but from what I understand they can be doing this because the baby is sick and the mother will not abandon it, even if it means her life is at risk. Stranding of cetaceans do often occur from one animal being sick, but whether it is a natural thing or not, nonetheless it is distressing to see firsthand. The rangers should at least show some concern about this and be looking at the animals to see that they have not been injured by humans in some way and that this is not a reoccurring thing as it could point to other environmental problems.

this is sad to hear and see. it is nice to know they accepted your help the first time and you all were willing to give it. the dolphin is a beautiful creature. It is even more upsetting to read that it is not the park ranger's job to help. even if they do not offer assistance. they should understand the natural events that occur in their park's boundaries and be able to inform their visitors on how to address those situations. but i guess that would require more of our tax money...

I do believe the Everglades Park Rangers are getting a bum rap here. Until relatively recent history, this area was the "wild west." You didn't ask questions about your neighbors. In 1983, there was one of the biggest drug busts in Florida history in Chokoloskee/Everglades City. It was one of the main routes to bring drugs into the US. There are still poachers, whether it be illegal net use, alligator hides, shark fining, or fish catches. And there is drug and human smuggling. So, if the rangers, who are out day and night in the Park, act detached from "ordinary" life and death struggles in the Park, it may be that there are other priorities.

The Park does have its own biologists. I would think that they would be very interested in animal deaths in the Park.

Keith could be right, A good friend a professional fisherman now retired knows the area very well, tells me that the tidal flats is a huge area and considering the large Dolphin population this occurrences are not at all uncommon and it would take great resourses to asist all the stranded animals specially considering that after being rescued a lot of them just go right back up the flats and die when the tide falls.I google Dolphin Suiside and it seems to happen all over the world and scientist dont have a clue of why it happens.There must be exceptions but, I still stand by my comment, everyone is not a layer a criminal or a suspect, I prefer to be at the dentist for an extraction rather than talk to one of this socially castrated guys on their power simdrome high. The whole thing was very umpleasant.

A lot of explanations given for strandings. One is that the shallows confuse the dolphins' sonar and when one dolphin gets stranded, other family members may also get stranded in trying to come to the rescue. Another is that predators have scared them into such shallow water that they become stranded. If they are rescued and release in the same area they may be chased right back ashore.I have also heard that 'red tide' types of toxic plankton may poison them, then they wash up on shore. At the present time, many dolphin and sea birds are washing ashore in Peru. There seems to be some evidence of a red tide in the area.

red tide, nasty stuff, seen millions of fish killed by this..worst i had seen in a while was 5-6 years ago around here...seemed anywhere near water reeked of dead fish around the county (which is a penninsula here in Pinellas County FL)

basically an algae bloom that produces a toxin that sucks all the oxygen out of the water and suffocates marine life

On Sat while going fishing we where stunned to se the two dolphings they came back to the shallows with a falling tide where they died and later washed up on the beach by the high tide. It was all very strange, why do they suiside could they be sick or where they afraid of something maybe sharks ?

Sharks are generally afraid of dolphins, not the other way around, so I doubt that is the explanation.

By the way, disrupting the normal behavior of marine mammals is against the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Good job, but possibly not a good idea to talk about it.

Certain types of algae produce toxins which are quite deadly to some organisms.In marine waters, "Red Tide" algae are red-colored so the water can be tinted from light pink to a bloody red. If fish and/or dolphin ingest enough of the algae they can be lethally poisoned. A few months ago, large number of dolphin and sea birds began to die along the Peruvian coast. It was determined that large patches of red algae were growing just offshore and killing them.Here in Minnesota, lake shore owners may over-fertilize their lawns and/or have septic systems that leak into the lake. Large quantities of green algae then begin to bloom. Green algae turns the lake surface into 'pea soup'. As the large amounts of algae die and sink...their decomposition can use up so much of the oxygen in the water that fish will die.In addition, to green algae, blue-green algae can also grow in great amounts. They produce toxins similar to red-tide algae. Water fowl die by drinking the water and getting poisoned. During hot summers, quite a few dogs die when they drink lake water and are poisoned. Humans usually just get skin rashes from the toxins...but if a small child were to swallow too much of the contaminated water they may have to be taken to the Emergency Room.